


The Dollhouse

by dokyun (kissthesea)



Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood and Gore, Blood and Torture, Body Horror, Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-23
Updated: 2013-11-23
Packaged: 2018-01-02 09:29:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1055174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissthesea/pseuds/dokyun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakyeon isn't human, he's never known the light, but in the darkness he finds his purpose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dollhouse

**Author's Note:**

> AU inspired by VIXX's "저주인형 (VOODOO DOLL) " music video.

The door at the end of the hallway opened with a grinding creak. Hakyeon lay at the back of his cell, eyes closed, and listened to the familiar sounds of cloth dragging against the cement floor, labored, uneven breathing and the tiniest groan of pain as the body hit the floor in the adjacent cell. For three weeks now that cell had been empty, its most recent occupant a faint memory. The people-- no, _things_ , in these cells never lasted long, which was why they only needed four. Eventually the things in the cages would break, and the same guard who'd dragged them in would carry them back out in a bag.

Very few of them lasted more than a week, and those that did weren't sure if they were lucky or not. According to the marks on the back wall of his cell, Hakyeon had been here for over two months, but even that count was inaccurate thanks to the frequent injections that left him unconscious for innumerable days and then too sick or foggy to do anything but lie still for days more. Trying to keep track of the time was probably pointless, but Hakyeon had no desire to stop. In the morning he counted the marks, sometimes multiple times, and before he succumbed to sleep, for there was no way to tell if it was night or day in this place so they all slept when the exhaustion simply became to much, he would scrawl one more line with his tiny chunk of brick. It wasn't much of a routine, but it was his.

Hakyeon's eyes took a moment to adjust to the near darkness of the hallway. Even with his eyes open he could hear the faint sounds of breathing from the nearby cell. He listened as the new occupant dragged itself to the back of the cell and settled there. The breathing calmed, slowed, and Hakyeon squinted to try and make out its shape. "Can you speak?" he called softly through the bars.

The thing froze and Hakyeon could practically sense it turning in the direction of his voice. "I think so," it answered in a hoarse male voice.

"Good," Hakyeon replied immediately and settled back against his wall. "The last guy couldn't."

"Or he preferred to ignore you," a gruff voice from across the hallway chuckled. 

"Shut it, Wonsik." Hakyeon felt around for a spare piece of rock or brick to throw at his other neighbor but found nothing. 

Apparently Wonsik was having no such difficulty as a pebble clattered somewhere to the side. "Don't call me that," Wonsik grumbled and another pebble landed slightly closer.

The stitches along Hakyeon's side ached terribly and Wonsik's complaining only seemed to make it worse. Turning towards the newly occupied cell, Hakyeon concentrated on trying to make out a face, but all he could discern was a hunched figure not unlike his own. "They never give us names, so I make them up," he explained for no real reason besides wanting to get his neighbor to speak again. "I'm Hakyeon, and that grumpy thing over there is Wonsik."

"What the hell is the point in having a name?" Wonsik growled, but his voice was further away now and not nearly so sharp. 

"Mind if I give you one?" Hakyeon asked hopefully. He wasn't even sure if he was being heard but it felt good to be having somewhat of a conversation with someone who wasn't Wonsik.

Hakyeon's eyes fluttered as he waited for an answer. Sleep had a tendency to come on suddenly and intensely here. "I don't mind," the new voice answered and Hakyeon smiled dreamily just before slipping off into the comforting darkness.

 

The lights in the examination room made Hakyeon's eyes water. The straps were tight against his wrists and the one across his chest made it difficult to breathe.

"You're holding up well, No. 4," the doctor commented. The surgical masl and goggles made it impossible to see the man's face, but Hakyeon had learned to recognize the various scientists by their voices alone.

Hakyeon grimaced. "My name is Hakyeon."

Flipping through his clipboard, the doctor nodded without a hint of amusement. "Still playing that game? Fine. Today we'll be taking more tissue samples, _Hakyeon_." He produced a large syringe from the nearby table and prepared the injection. Hakyeon tensed as it pierced his skin, then immediately relaxed as the drugs started to take effect. 

"You'll never be able to make another one of me, you know," Hakyeon chuckled as his eyelids grew too heavy to keep open.

"Well, we'll just see about that."

 

"You awake?"

Hakyeon was in a whirlpool. The water wrapped around his limbs and crushed his chest. He struggled for breath and couldn't force his arms to move, to swim to safety. Every gasp for air was painful and his head pounded as the water clogged his ears and filled his mouth.

"Hakyeon!"

A scream ripped through the whirlpool and only when he found himself in his cell, sitting up and sweating heavily, did Hakyeon realize it had come from his own mouth. Through the bars at the front of his cell he could see Wonsik standing against the bars of his own. Only when either of them were able to move that far could they see each other. The hands that gripped the bars were covered in marks which snaked up Wonsik's arms and across his bare chest. Hakyeon was never able to figure out what kind of experiment they were performing on Wonsik, only that Wonsik disappeared for long stretches of time and then returned with less and less of his skin visible beneath those marks. Wonsik's recovery time never seemed as long as Hakyeon's, but there were periods when Wonsik would absolutely refuse to speak, and Hakyeon would let him. 

"I'm awake, I'm awake," he groaned and rolled over onto his side. There were bandages wrapped tightly around his torso and his insides were on fire. The remaining haze of the drugs left him dizzy but otherwise surprisingly clear-headed. How much had they taken this time? There was no way for him to know. "How long was I gone?"

"A fucking long time," Wonsik spat. Anger was the one emotion Wonsik was able to turn to when he was worried or feeling anything else that made him uncomfortable. If it wouldn't have caused him pain Hakyeon might have laughed. 

"And I suppose I was unconscious for a fucking long time?" he wheezed.

Wonsik clicked his tongue in annoyance and stepped away from the bars. All at once his figure melted into the darkness and Hakyeon felt alone, totally and utterly alone.

"Hakyeon?" another voice called out and Hakyeon's head whipped around so fast he cursed. A figure was curled up towards the front of the cell next door. Just enough light was hitting it for Hakyeon to see the edges of a face.

Hakyeon smiled through the pain. "Jaehwan," he breathed. "What have I missed?"

A pale and drawn face leaned against the bars and Jaehwan shrugged. "Not much. There's a new one across from me." He glanced across the hallway and Hakyeon followed the gaze. Indeed there was something in the cage, not moving much but just enough to catch glimpses. "They have him all hooked up to something. I don't understand."

Dragging himself across the floor of the cell, Hakyeon leaned against the bars near Jaehwan and tried to look closer, too. It occurred to him that this was the closest he'd ever been to any of the others. If he'd tried he could have touched Jaehwan through the bars, but the prospect was frightening. Instead he focused on the one across the hall in the cell beside Wonsik's. He wasn't surprised that Wonsik was avoiding the topic of his neighbor; Wonsik found it hard enough to have an attachment to Hakyeon, the one who managed to last the longest. Getting attached to one that wasn't likely to make it long was impossible.

"Can you speak?" Hakyeon and Jaehwan listened but no response came. The thing moved, though, sliding into the light just enough for Hakyeon to glimpse a shoulder clothed in a ragged shirt. Hooks attached to wires were embedded in the pale skin and just the sight made Hakyeon swallow hard. 

Jaehwan's large eyes widened and tried to lean closer, but the thing moved away from the light before they could see anything more. "What is this place?" he asked as he continued to stare after the figure.

"Do you remember anything from before they brought you here?" Hakyeon knew the answer, but he was endlessly curious. As the experiments persisted the results were becoming more and more complex, if not more and more fragile as well. Maybe someday one would show up who had a past.

Jaehwan shook his head. "All I remember is a doctor calling me No. 23 and ordering the guards to take me away. Then I was here."

"I'm No. 4," Hakyeon said as if he were introducing himself. "Wonsik is No. 16. They don't like to give us real names because we're not real people."

"What are we?" Jaehwan's voice was so quiet Hakyeon almost couldn't hear him.

"Something close to human," Hakyeon assured him, "except that we're not born. We're made." He wrinkled his nose and shrugged. Sitting like this, close enough to barely feel Jaehwan's warmth, was kind of nice. "We have some knowledge, but it's limited. I'm not sure if there's a word for what we are."

"Slaves," Wonsik muttered from the back of his cell. "We're slaves."

 

They took Jaehwan three days later. The two were sitting once again in the lit corner their two cells shared and talking quietly to each other, now and then directing something to Wonsik or Taekwoon, the strangely quite and yet attentive one held in the fourth cell. The conversations were simple and repetitive due to the confines of their lives, but Hakyeon enjoyed them immensely. He'd describe past occupants of the hallway in as much detail as he could and Jaehwan would listen intently. All they had to discuss were the things directly around them, but it was enough. 

When the guard came and opened Jaehwan's cell, Hakyeon experienced a panic he couldn't control. He was still too weak from his own recent session to so much as move, but his eyes never left Jaehwan as they took him out. Jaehwan didn't look worried in the least; Hakyeon had prepared him for the fact that they all, eventually, left the hallway now and then. But Hakyeon's heart pounded when the door closed behind them and he found impossible to get under control.

"What are you going to do if he doesn't come back?" Wonsik was leaning against his bars and watching the door, too. When Hakyeon's eyes moved he was shocked to find tears falling from them, which he wiped away before Wonsik could notice.

Very carefully he crawled to the back of his cell. He busied himself with adding another day to his count, but that just made him wonder how many days would pass before Jaehwan came back. If Jaehwan was coming back. "Who knows?" he muttered and honestly didn't care if Wonsik heard. 

 

The following days were some of the worst Hakyeon had ever known. Two days later the guards returned, but to Hakyeon's dismay the body they carried with them wasn't Jaehwan's, but another new subject. This one was all lanky limbs and flopped uselessly onto the cement floor of Jaehwan's cell like a rag doll. The sight of someone other than Jaehwan in that cell struck Hankyeon oddly, and he found himself mumbling to the guards as they passed, "What about Jaehwan? Where is he? Why aren't you bringing him back?" One shot him a disgusted look before disappearing beyond the door, and Hakyeon looked at his new neighbor for the first time.

Hakyeon named him Sanghyuk, and that very same day a group of doctors came into the hall themselves to run tests on him. The procedure was new and Hakyeon watched, or rather listened, as they loaded the boy onto a table and got to work. In the dim light scalpels flashed and Sanghyuk groaned in pain. With this one they didn't bother with the leather straps; Sanghyuk hardly so much as flinched. When they were finished, they lowered Sanghyuk to the floor and left him there. 

Unlike Taekwoon, Sanghyuk talked enough but didn't seem able to quite catch all of Hakyeon's words. The guards had left him near the door of the cell, so Hakyeon could see him perfectly, and Sanghyuk didn't seem in a hurry to move. From shoulder to wrist his arms were swollen and bleeding. Small chucks of what appeared to be wood were embedded into the skin all along his arms, and the pain from that seemed to be a constant distraction. As much as Hakyeon tried to distract himself from Jaehwan's presence by getting to know Sanghyuk, Sanghyuk wasn't up for getting to know anyone. Even Wonsik winced and spoke gently to the boy, coming to the edge of his cage to chat when Sanghyuk was most lucid. Now and then one of the doctor's assistants would come scuttling through the hall and inject Sanghyuk with something that lessened his groans but fogged his brain. Then all of them would fall silent and Hakyeon would return to counting the days.

The next morning, Jaehwan returned.

 

Everything in the hallway happened on a regular schedule. Even without clocks or knowing the time of day, Hakyeon was able to keep track of the routines and could predict when the guards or doctors would come and go. That day the guards must have arrived at an extremely early time in the morning because Hakyeon was fast asleep near the door of his cell when something warm and heavy landed half on top of him. He lurched awake and grabbed at the thing, then gaped at the guards who loomed above him.

"If his condition worsens, bang on the bars until one of us comes for him," one ordered. The other dropped a bag on the floor nearby and, with that, they departed. Hakyeon's mouth opened and closed in an unspoken _Why?_ , but it wasn't a question he knew how to ask.

Hakyeon looked down and found Jaehwan lying in his lap. His eyes were closed and his breathing was ragged, but it was Jaehwan. Hakyeon clutched at the body awkwardly because he wasn't quite sure how to touch other people, but he pulled Jaehwan close and whispered to him soothingly. His head was a mess of bloody bandages and more blood dripped down his face. In the bag Hakyeon found more bandages and bottles of thingshe didn't recognize. Setting Jaehwan down gently, Hakyeon rifled through the bottles before selecting one, then turned to start unwrapping Jaehwan's head.

"What the hell are you doing?" Wonsik asked. Hakyeon glanced over to find Wonsik watching him closely, his brow knotted in confusion. The marks on his body had spread up his neck after his last treatment, and looking at them made Hakyeon's gut clench in apprehension.

He opened one bottle and spread the contents onto his fingers. "I have no idea."

"Do you even know what that stuff is?" Wonsik was getting angrier now, and Hakyeon could understand. Neither of them had ever seen someone receive a treatment to the head let alone bleeding so much from it. Whatever they had done to Jaehwan was different and therefore extremely dangerous. "You could kill him!"

"I know!" Hakyeon snapped back. "But I don't think I will." He gently finished unwrapping Jaehwan's head and grimaced at the huge stitches across his skull. He poured some liquid onto one of the rags from the bag and dabbed at the wounds. "I'm cleaning him." The words felt strange in his mouth. Hakyeon had no concept of clean or cleaning or why Jaehwan needed cleaning, but the words felt right and his hands practically moved on their own. His actions were nothing he recognized but were exactly what he knew he needed to do.

"How do you know how to do that?"

The air in the hall felt stuffy and Hakyeon's breath caught in his throat before he replied, "I don't know."

 

Jaehwan woke up the same day they took Wonsik away. The light proved necessary for monitoring Jaehwan's condition so the two of them stayed curled up nearest the one hallway light. Hakyeon never dared let Jaehwan go, not even when he slept. He kept Jaehwan hugged tight against his chest so that he could always feel Jaehwan's breathing. If there was even the slightest hitch, Hakyeon woke. Having Jaehwan so close was strange but Hakyeon forced himself to adjust for the sake of necessity. Once he was used to it, he found that Jaehwan's steady breathing eased his own panic, that Jaehwan's heartbeat fell into rhythm with his own. Perfectly still, perfectly in time with one another, there were moments when Hakyeon imagined they were one and the same, part of a whole.

Meanwhile the guards and doctors and assistants came and went as per their usual schedules. No one came to check on Jaehwan; that was Hakyeon's duty alone. The experiments continued on Sanghyuk and now and then Taekwoon was checked on as well, but Hakyeon was so focused on Jaehwan that he hardly noticed. Everything remained the same until they came for Wonsik.

The procession was unusually slow, that was the first thing Hakyeon noticed. He was wrapped around Jaehwan when they brought Wonsik out, letting him walk because he was one of the few who still could. Before heading for the door, Wonsik paused next to Hakyeon's spot in the light and looked down at them. The guards didn't do anything to stop him. That wasn't right.

"You're different, Hakyeon," Wonsik said quietly. One guard nudged him but he remained where he was. "That's important, you know? Don't forget it."

He waited until Hakyeon gave a quiet nod, and then Wonsik left with the guards. The words jumbled about in Hakyeon's mind until he had a terrible headache. In his arms, Jaehwan's continued to sleep peacefully. His head wounds were healing and his face no longer felt hot all the time. All of these were good signs, though Hakyeon couldn't understand why he knew that.

That night Jaehwan woke up, bleary-eyed and disoriented, and Hakyeon told him the story of Hongbin, the one who'd lived in the cell beside Hakyeon's before Jaehwan had come along. They'd conducted an experiment on him similar to Sanghyuk's, sticking his arms with shards of class. But Hongbin had been special; something in his brain had made him immune to pain. They'd tested and tested and tested to see if they could make him hurt, and then he had. Or at least Hakyeon assumed so, because he'd never been brought back.

Hakyeon felt good that night. He was completely healed from his last session, Jaehwan was conscious, and even Sanghyuk was in a talkative mood, chiming in with questions during the story. All the same, he couldn't stop thinking about what Wonsik had said. _You're important_. It made no sense. None of them was important. Eventually they'd all break and be replaced. Hakyeon hoped it wouldn't be too long before Wonsik came back this time. His tests always went on forever, but they'd talk about it when Wonsik was back.

Wonsik never came back.

 

Hakyeon's eyes were dry and his voice level when he asked, "Wonsik's dead, isn't he?" The bright lights of the doctor's room hurt his eyes but he refused to squint, staring right into the eyes beyond the goggles.

"Who?"

"No. 16," Hakyeon growled. The assistants fastened the straps around his arms and tightened the strap across his chest.

The doctor pulled on his gloves and sighed, "Ah, that one? Yes, that experiment is over. It's unfortunate, but we were aware of the time limitations." 

Hakyeon remembered the marks on Wonsik's skin, how they'd stretched up his neck and curled around his ears. They'd only had one place left to go. Hakyeon bit the insides of his cheeks.

"Stop straining," the doctor scolded him, and Hakyeon was surprised to find his hands balled into fists, forearms pulling against the restraints. He relaxed and watched the doctor prepare his sedative. "You're always so good, No. 4. Not like the others." The needle sank into Hakyeon's arm and he hissed. "I know you won't disappoint us." 

 

When Jaehwan learned of Wonsik's death, he cried. Salty tears stained his cheeks and Hakyeon remained speechless, unsure of what was happening or what to do. Jaehwan's wounds were healing, but his mind wasn't. Small sounds made him flinch in fear, light hurt his eyes, simple phrases produced illogical reactions, and he was always close. After his session, Hakyeon awoke to Jaehwan pressed against his side. If Hakyeon moved away, Jaehwan followed. As foreign as the touches were to Hakyeon, they had become something Jaehwan couldn't function without.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" he asked through his tears. Hakyeon stared at Jaehwan in awe and confusion. Wonsik's anger was one thing, but Hakyeon didn't know how to handle such a wide scope of emotions.

"Nothing," he replied quietly and reached out to pull Jaehwan close, making himself wince as the stitches along his spine strained with the movement. "You're just... more human." Jaehwan appeared to share Hakyeon's confusion, frowning and opening his mouth to speak as Hakyeon leaned closer, but whatever he tried to say was muffled by Hakyeon's mouth.

 _Kiss_ , the dark recesses of Hakyeon's mind whispered. _This is a kiss_.

The door to the hallway slammed open and Hakyeon heard boots pounding against the cement floor. Strong hands grabbed at him and yanked him away. Jaehwan gaped and tried to pull him back, but to no avail. Hakyeon twisted in their grasp and cursed as he felt his wounds reopen. For once pain didn't stop him. His fist connected with one guard's chin and then another guard produced a syringe. Before Hakyeon's could process what was happening, the needle was in his arm and Jaehwan's face faded from view.

 

For the first time in his existence Hakyeon woke up to those painfully bright lights. They'd never drugged him before bringing him here; everything was wrong. The doctor was waiting in a chair across from the examination table. Hakyeon lurched and found himself already strapped in. Panic set in and his chest heaved against the tight restraints. He could feel warm blood trickling from the opened wounds on his back. "Now, now, no need for that," the doctor chuckled and rose to his feet.

"What the hell is this?" Hakyeon demanded. 

The doctor was maskless, but Hakyeon couldn't say his features were anything special. A bland face to match a bland voice. An ungloved hand came to rest on Hakyeon's chest. "We have learned a lot thanks to you, No. 4," the doctor said, ignoring Hakyeon's outburst. "We have performed more operations on this body than we have on any of the others. You were made strong, and you've only grown stronger. Your kind don't have to eat or drink. You don't even have to sleep all that much to function. But you, No. 4, you function better than all of them."

A smug smile graced the doctor's lips and Hakyeon felt sick. "I'm important," he dared to suggest. He could picture Wonsik's sad gaze perfectly now, the mix of cold resignation and conflicted fondness in his eyes. 

The dark eyebrows above the doctor's eyes arched. " _Very_ important, and I'm not surprised you figured that out."

"I didn't," he retorted, but once again the doctor ignored him.

"I know you're used to getting more time to heal between surgeries, but I'm afraid things have changed. You've reached the final stage far ahead of schedule." He picked up his clipboard and turned it so Hakyeon could stare stupidly at the figures written there. "We're absolutely delighted! I mean, all of the managers thought we were crazy to place you and No. 23 in the same cell, but you've proven them quite wrong."

The room was chilly, even colder than the cells. Or maybe Hakyeon had grown accustomed to Jaehwan's warmth, he wasn't sure of anything anymore. He shivered as the doctor grasped his hand and thanked him. "I don't understand," he mumbled.

The doctor waved his hand dismissively and a team of assistants filed into the room. "There's no need for you to understand. I have to admit I'm sorry that this will be the last time we get to converse like this, No. 4. You've been incredibly amusing." Hakyeon turned just in time to see an assistant jab yet another needle into his arm. 

"Don't worry," the doctor's voice called as the room darkened around him. "We'll let you see No. 23 one more time. After all, this should give us just enough data to finish perfecting him."

 

Somewhere in the darkness, Jaehwan was crying again. In the tiniest sliver of light, Hakyeon could see Jaehwan's red eyes. Hakyeon could hear him, too, calling his name again and again.

 _I'm right here_ , Hakyeon wanted to answer, but when he tried to take a breath his entire body rejected it. He felt himself hacking and his vision went red. Then he was looking up at Jaehwan again. Above his shoulder he could see one of the guards looming.

"They took too much this time," the guard said, and his voice struck Hakyeon as funny. He choked on his laugh and doubled over. Red blood splattered the floor and danced before Hakyeon's eyes. Jaehwan's hands brought Hakyeon's face up back up, and then he could feel Jaehwan's warm mouth on his forehead, his cheeks, his lips. When he let go, Hakyeon fell back but had just enough strength to wipe the blood from Jaehwan's lips. 

_You were made strong, and you've only grown stronger._

There was no time. The room was growing darker, and Hakyeon knew that very soon he wouldn't be able to keep his eyes open anymore. He opened his mouth and his throat felt ragged, but he pulled Jaehwan close and mumbled the few words he had left.

_This should give us just enough data to finish perfecting him._

"Kill them, Jaehwan. Kill them all."


End file.
